Around 500 representatives of governments, workers and employers in Timor-Leste joined the long march to commemorate the Labour Day, annually observed on 1 May. President of Timor-Leste, H.E. Jose Ramos Horta participated in the event together with Faustino Cardoso Gomes, President of Civil Service Commission, Alarico Do Rosario, Secretary of State for Vocational Training and Employment (SEFOPE), George Serano, President of the Chamber of Commerce of Timor-Leste, Alemerio Vila Nova, President of Timor-Leste Trade Union Confederation (KSTL) as well as representatives of workers, private companies and civil society organizations.

The long march started from two departure points of the Presidential Palace and KSTL Bemori to the beach of Largo de Lecidere as the concentration point under the theme: “Together we promote decent work and social dialogue to guarantee social protection for workers”. The long march also called for the government of Timor-Leste to ratify the ILO Convention No. 190 on Violence and Harassment.

In his speech, President Horta stressed the importance of increasing the investment in education, particularly in technical professional area. “What is missing in the country is education and we need to invest more in the technical professional area with international standards to compete and join the ASEAN market,” said the President Horta.

Alarico do Rosario, Secretary of State for SEFOPE, said that the commemoration was a momentum for the key labour actors to reflect on the roles of the tripartite in promoting the decent work, inclusion and equity in Timor-Leste. “The law proposal of the 8th constitutional government on health, security and hygiene in the workplace has been approved and we are hopeful that President of Timor-Leste Jose Ramos Horta will promulgate the law in near future,” he said.

The long march concluded with the signing of a Joint Declaration to support the ratification of the ILO Convention No. 190 by the President Jose Ramos Horta with the key labour actors, the Secretary of State Alarico Do Rosario, President of CCI-TL Jorge Serano and the KSTL’s Secretary General Bernardo Amaral do Rosario. In addition, the key labour actors declared the importance of all relevant parties to sit down together as partners to jointly contribute to the national development and to maintain the competitiveness of Timor-Leste.

Jorge Serano, President of CCI-TL, in his remarks stated: “I do have around 700 workers and I understand their needs for a decent work which is not only salary issue but also working environment. To achieve that we need to sit down as a partner not as an enemy to contribute for the national development. To join the ASEAN, we need to be prepared not only our skills, but we also need to raise our productivity to compete with the rest of ASEAN countries.”

Meanwhile, Almerio Vilanova, President of KSTL, emphasized the upholding of the labour rights, including social security and social dialogue. “Labour day is a very important day and we gathered here today as an opportunity for the workers to speak to the government and employers to create decent working conditions. We request government to review the draft decree law on minimum salary and to create workplace that is free from violence and harassment,” he said.

To strengthen the partnership and collaboration, the long march was continued with quizzes and price awards from the private companies to the workers with best performance and series of friendship games of futsal held from 1 to 12 May, involving ten teams of males and six teams of females from various institutions, including UN agencies.

“Through the futsal game, we can strengthen the partnership among relevant partners as the games taught us to respect each other,” said Carmeneza Dos Santos Monteiro from the Civil Service Commission; meanwhile, Ady Pati from CODIVA organization, an LGBT organization, appreciated the actions against stigma and discrimination and added that “we hope that this will open a wider opportunity for the LGBT community to look for jobs in the private and public sectors.”

The ILO’s support was given through the Spotlight Initiative in Timor-Leste—a joint initiative of EU-UN to eliminate violence against women and girls. This global initiative is implemented by the ILO together with four other UN agencies in Timor-Leste.